Back from 5/14-5/22 Magic cruise

[tink5697]

Wow! We are exhausted! This has gotten really long, I apologize in advance!
I am a complete spaz and TOTALLY played in the pool during the scheduled DIS meet!! I was so upset, but had no way to get in touch with anyone
DD came down with a serious ear infection on Thursday so we had a nice $105. fee added to our KTTW card Gotta love it. They were so great, the doc was terrific.
We had a wonderful, amazing time. Let me see what I can mention. We had Dennis and Maria for dining room servers, and Erwin for Stateroom steward. I can't say enough good things about him. We had a "Privacy Please" sign on the door the enitre day while DD tried to recoupe for Castaway Cay and everytime I went in our out of the room he would say "How is she?" Then we finally vacated the room for dinner, and I took the sign off the door. I thought he would just make her an animal and pull down her bunk. The room literally looked like a bomb went off from the day in. I couldn't imagine he would have enough time to clean the ENTIRE room!! He was great.
Let's see what else.
We had brunch at Palo, and of course this was the day DD was sick so DH backed out to stay with her. We assumed we would have to pay for him, but they said no problem and took his fee off the reservation. We had Jemma as a server and she was fabulous! Man that pizza is to die for!! That and the Orecchete pasta.... YUM YUM!!
Had a massage in the spa, and my only complaint (That I wrote down on the comment card) was that the basketball court was right above us. You could hear running and boucing through the entire thing. They should have put Palo above the spa. JMO
Then of course my massage therapist suggested I needed over $230 in facial products.... so I caved and bought a $49 exfoliater. Jenkies!! If I just signed the thing.... (I was kind of out of it after the massage, it was wonderful) my bill would have been $340.
We saw dolphins leaving Port Canaveral and coming back, made it very special for my daughter (and me).
The highlights... the Doubloon Schooner excursion in St Thomas.. Very special, awesome awesome excursion. I was nervous about dd snorkeling, she was amazing. She was even letting the air out of her lifejacket to go down to the turtles!! We had such a great time!
We also went on the Bridge tour and there were LOTS of questions regarding the repositioning and they weren't budging an inch on what everyone already knows! One person did ask if they are going to build a new ship and the response was simply that they are "Testing" the waters with the several months in the west and they are taking it from there. No info there There were posters in the elevator etc regarding the repositioning tour, and also sales info in the room.
For complaints... we got to Castaway Cay at 9:00, supposed to disembark at 9:30. Well, we sat in the stairwell for over an hour. We were on deck 7 and the stairs was were full from deck 1 all the way up to deck 6, because of course the elevators were not functioning. DH was ready to go back to the room. I don't really know what else they can do, but on the Wonder last year, we arrived at Castaway Cay at 8:00 and were on the beach by 8:35. MIL's parasailing excursion, along with others were very late starting due to no one being able to get off the boat.
If anyone has any specific questions, I would be happy to answer!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Sorry to hear about your DD's ear infection. How old is she? Did she enjoy any of the activities?

Who were your traveling companions? You said "we" for the brunch, but that DH stepped aside to care for DD.

 

[tink5697]

DD is 7 and she wanted to be in the club a lot less than she did last year. I was surprised, but she was building up to the ear infection too, I think she was mushy. She didn't want to do the show the kids do on the last day, but she did want to be in the club last night (The antibiotics kicked in) and as we were leaving they gave her a T-shirt and a awesome Oceaneer's Club bucket hat. SO CUTE!!
My traveling companions were... DH, myself, DD (7), MIL, DH's 90 year old Grandpa, BIL, SIL, DNiece (4), Dnephew (5), and another single BIL. So the single BIL, MIL and I went to Palo.

 

[Disneyfan37]

Hi!I am sorry to hear about your daughter's ear infection.Hope she had a good time considering.It sounds like you all had a great.We are going on the Magic in December for our first time.
I have a question for you one our previous servers on the Wonder was Dennis.I wonder if he was your server.He was so great.We would love to have him again as our server come December.
Thanks for sharing your trip with us.I truly enjoyed reading all about it.Did you take any photos?I surely would love to see them.

Maria in FL

 

[ciadriamom]

Did the $105 include the cost of the antibiodic and were you able to get them on the ship?

 

[Mickeyhugger]

Your DH's 90 year-old grandfather? I love it! I hope DH and I are doing DCL vacations when we're that age. (If we're as lucky to live to that age!)

 

[goingbacksoon]

Did they tell you why you were delayed to CC? And why it took so long for you to get off once you got there?

goingbacksoon

 

[natdencro]

Do hope family are all better now: what a shame you had problem during your holiday. Am glad you had our DD serving you in Palo: always nice to have good reports. She's always happy to serve DIs members! Nat

 

[musicgirl]

I have to agree about the distraction of the bb court. I did the alpha capsule that is suppose to "give" you hours of sleep in 25 minutes. Even with music piped in through the headphones, I could still hear them. This is not one of their better plans.

I hope your dd is better and was able to still have some fun (and you and your dh).

Lorie

 

[tink5697]

The Dennis we had was great! He did magic tricks for the kids, he actually is going home in 2 weeks and will be back in December. He got some special orders for the kids squared away, never messed up a dinner order, and brought all the desserts every night for everyone to try.
As far as the medical visit, I was very surprised at the price. It was $90 for the visit, then antibiotics and a bottle of Tylenol came to $105.00. They gave me a bill etc for my insurance company, but I doubt my insurance co will cover a visit at sea, but who knows!
And as for the CC delay..we never got an answer. When DH looked at the channel on the TV (Channel 62, lol) that tells you the "Bridge Report" he mentioned that we could have gotten there a lot sooner..we were traveling slower than we had all week. I think it was in the actual itenarary to get there at 9:00 and they stuck with it?? I don't know. But if you don't get off early you get no spot on the beach, so you either stand in line like cattle or perhaps miss out on a good spot.

 

[SandraLee]

My DD had an ear infection on the cruise. You should submit to your insurance company. They should pay for it as if you were at an 'out of network' visit. For me, that was a $50 co-pay. They tried to bill it as a ER visit, because it was 'coded' that way on the discharge papers from the DR on the ship.

Eventually, we got it all worked out and I paid what I would have paid if I was at home.

 

[lisab1291]

Sorry we missed you at the meet, we went but didn't stay long. We are also very tired. I need a few more days to recover.

We had a great time. I will post more later, I have to unpack.

Lisa

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

That's good to know Sandrelee--would your insurance have treated it differently had you been in port already and had to visit a medical facility in a foreign country?

 

[SandraLee]

I have not checked on coverage in a foreign country. If the ship was in port and all I needed was an ear check, I'd still use the ship doctor. I'd only go to the hospital in a foreign country under an emergency.

Your trip insurance will cover medical coverage in a foreign country and some regular medical insurance covers it, too.

I'll be checking this before we head out on our panama cruise next may!

 

[Disneyfan37]

Hi!The Dennins we had was from Czech. or Poland.He was great.I hope this is the same one.I will look around when we cruise in December to see if it is,and we surely would love to have him again as our server.
Hope yout daughter's medical bill is covered by insurance.You would hope they would still cover it.
I wonder what is up with CC.You would think it wouldn't matter what time you got there.It is Disney's private island.I am sorry that you had to wait.
Again thanks for sharing your trip with us!

Maria

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

bump

 

[DrCavin]

We got stuck on deck 3 for getting off to CC. I was seriously debating going to the aft section to see if it was any quicker, but we stayed in forward. Took about 20 minutes to get off the ship.

Some people apparently got out quickly because the first section of the beach was pretty full when I go there. Just go to the far end of the beach, plenty of chairs.

 

[thomprod]

The original poster didn't say why the elevators were not working at Castaway Cay, did she? Any idea?

 

[tink5697]

Originally posted by thomprod
The original poster didn't say why the elevators were not working at Castaway Cay, did she? Any idea?

We saw one elevator door open the entire time we waited on the stairs. It was LOADED to the brim with people, so it a no go. I still don't know what the hold up was. One minute we could cruise down a flight of steps, then we would sit in one spot for 10-15 minutes.

 

[DrCavin]

They may have shut them down, because I never saw them open from deck 3 down to deck 1. Even if you took the elevator you would have been stuck inside it because it was packed down on deck 1 to get out.

What I saw holding up the line was people did not have their photo ID's or KTTW cards out & ready... Saw some people trying to take coffee & food off the ship, CANT DO IT!!! So they were also holding up the line trying to either stuff it in their mouths or throw it away.